Follower for file drawers



Jan. 23, 1945. F. c. DREBES FOLLOWER FOR FILE DRAWERS F'ile d Feb. 26, 1944 Patented Jan. 23, 1945 FOLLOWER FOR FILE DRAWERS Fred C. Drebes, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Boyn'ton & Company. Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application February 26, 1944, Serial No. 524,022

1 Claim.

This invention relates to followers for filing drawersv and its primary object is tov provide a drawer follower which is simple in construction, economical in manufacture and highly efiicient in use.

Another object of this invention is to provide a follower, having a finger operated lever, with a pressure plate for uniformly distributing the clamping action of the lever on the bottom wall of a filing drawer.

A further object of this invention is to provide a follower with a cam actuated bearing block to bind the follower block relative to guiding means in a filing drawer.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a follower for filing drawers having parallel guiding means therein which follower has a cam operated wedging means for producing bearing. engagement with a wall of the filing drawer contiguous to the guiding means.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a compact wooden follower member for filing drawers which follower member can be placed at a rearmost condition in the drawer with a. minimum loss of filing space.

. Other objects will appear more fully hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel combina tion and arrangement of parts to be. hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention will be best undrestood by reference to the accompanying drawing showing my preferred form of construction and in which:

Fig. 1v is a perspective View of a filing drawer having my new follower associated therewith;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section through the follower as seen along line 2-2 in Fig. 1. with the follower disposed in its rearmost position, of adjustment;

Fig. 3 is a, cross sectional detail through the filing drawer and showing my follower in vertical sectional detail as seen along line 3-3 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective View, partly in section showing the construction of my fol lower block; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view showing one end of the follower block.

My new follower is shown associated with a conventional filing drawer I0 having parallel sides H and I2 and a front and back wall [3 and M respectively together with a bottom wall I5 for supporting articles in the drawer. The side walls II and I2 are provided with guiding means for a follower which guiding means are preferably in the form of grooves I6 rabbeted in the inside face of the side walls a substantial distance above the bottom wall 15 andin a plane parallel with respect thereto.

The follower is generally indicated as fl and consists of a base member [8 which comprises a main block 40 and an interfitting shoe or bearing block 511 which when arranged in interfitting relation, present a Vertical bearing surface l9 versely of the mortise 4| to provide a trunnion for a. pivoted lever 22 pivotally mounted on a dowel pin 33 having its extremities supported in the opening 23. This pin 33 is secured in the block 40 by a peg 34 which prevents the pin 33 from becoming accidentally removed from its.

position in the block 40.

The. lever 22 is circular in shape'and has a bearing opening 26 formed eccentric of the outer curved edge 21 of the lever. In this manner the lower portion of the curved edge 2'! is disposed at a shorter radius from the axis of thebearing opening 26 when the lever 22 is in normal or released condition as seen in Fig. 4 than is the higher portion of the curved edge 21 which is disposed at substantially from said lower portion of the curved edge in the direction of the long axis of the lever 22. In other words, the segmental are between the foregoing low and high portions of the curved edge 27 is graduated in radius thereby providing for a camming action when the lever 22 is rotated between its two extreme positions. The upper end of the lever 22 is formed to provide a finger tab 28 whereby a person can easily urge the lever 2-2 into one or the other of its extreme positions.

As shown in the drawing the bottom wall of the main block 40 is rabbeted to provide a groove 23 along the long axis of the block 40 and in alignment with the mortise 4 I. The depth of this groove 23 is of such dimension as to expose the curved edge 21 of the lever 22 to the groove and is so arranged that the lower portion of the curved edge 21 will not extend into the groove 23 while the higher portion of the curved edge 21 will extend into the groove 23 for reasons presently to become apparent. I

Each end of the block 40 has a lug 35 formed thereon which lug 35 is disposed to extend into the guideway IS on the adjacent side wall of the drawer for guiding the block 40 in its movement relative to the drawer 10. These lugs 35 also provide a bearing means for binding the block 40 against the side walls II and I2 of the drawer l0 when an upward pressure is exerted on the block 40 by means now to be explained.

The shoe or bearing block 50 as hereinbefore stated has interfitting relation with respect to the main block 40 and to this end the block 50 has a rib or tongue 24 formed on its upper surface. This tongue 24 is arranged in the groove 23 in the bottom wall of the block 40 and is so disposed as to interlock the two blocks 40 and 50 against displacement when the follower I1 is moved longitudinally of the drawer l0 and yet to permit of a movement of the two blocks 40 and 50 toward and away from each other in a vertical direction relative to each other.

The vertical movement of the two blocks 40 and 50 is limited, however, by reason of the assembly of the follower in the drawer. The follower I1 is assembled as heretofore explained by arranging the two blocks 40 and 50 in interfitting relation. The lever 22 is then rotated to dispose the lower portions of the curved edge in a plane aligned with a vertical plane struck through the dowel pin 33. The two blocks thus arranged are placed diagonally within the drawer ill on the bottom Wall l5 thereof. The two blocks are then rotated or turned to dispose the front face I9 forwardly in the drawer, the lugs 35 on the ends of the block 40 sliding into guiding relation with their respective guideways l6. With the follower I! thus arranged in the drawer [0 the follower is free to move longitudinally in the drawer and the shoe block 50 is held in interfitting relation with its companion block 40 by reason of the lugs 35 riding in their respective guideways [6.

With this type of follower the sheets being filed are held perfectly vertical by the vertical bearing surface l9. This is true because the binding action of the follower in no wise permits of a teetering of the follower with respect to vertical. In operation the follower is pressed firmly against the sheets to be filed and the lever 22 rotated into the position shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 thus causing the high portion of the curved edge 21 to extend into the groove 23 to cammingly engage the tongue 24. As is best illustrated in Fig. 3 there is a downward force exerted in the mid-region of the shoe block 50 which by reason of its recessed bottom wall 2| will have equal bearing on its two legs 2| on the bottom wall [5 of the drawer. The main block 40 on the other hand is raised relative to the shoe block 50 until the side lugs 35 tightly engage the upper walls of the grooves forming their respective guideways Hi. It is therefore seen that the tongue and groove arrangement of the blocks 40 and 50 assures of a truly vertical movement of the upper block. Also the flat bottoms of the legs 21' being at right angles to the vertical front face l9 as are the fiat tops of the lugs 35 assures that the follower I! is in truly vertical relation to the drawer [0 thus binding the sheets 20 with uniform pressure on the rearmost sheet.

Attention is called to the follower I! in its rearmost position of adjustment as seen in Fig. 2. The follower in such position is equally as efllcient and because of its relative thickness permits of filing of a maximum number of cards in the drawer with little loss of space. As shown in Fig. 2 there is just enough space between the upstanding portion 42 of the block 40 and the back wall I4 of the drawer to permit entry of a persons finger in order to operate the lever 22.

It is therefore apparent that I have provided a simple follower structure which when locked in a drawer has a solid binding action with respect to the drawer to present a truly vertical face for binding sheets to be filed whereby each individual card or sheet will be pressed with uniform pressure throughout its entire fiat surface. This type of follower will keep sheets in true flat condition and eliminate waves or creases in the sheets which have been found objectionable when the sheets are inserted into industrial machinery and oflice equipment.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variation and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A follower for a drawer having a bottom wall and opposite side walls provided with elongated guiding grooves, comprising a pair of superimposed blocks with one of the blocks provided with lateral extensions at opposite ends, said one of the blocks having an elongated groove and a recess communicating with the groove, the other of the blocks having a rib fitted into said groove, means for wedging the extensions in said guiding grooves and for bearing said other of the blocks against the bottom wall of the drawer, comprising a, lever having a finger tab and a cam element, with the cam element mounted in said recess for camming engagement with respect to the rib'and adapted when rotated by the finger tab to effect said wedging of the extensions into the guiding grooves and the bearing of the other of the blocks against the bottom wall of the drawer, and a member extending transversely of said one block for operatively connecting the lever to said one block.

FRED C. DREBES. 

